Optical recording technology has been suggested as an alternative to magnetic storage techniques for storing data on a recording tape. More particularly, technology has been suggested for recording information by directing a scanning beam of laser light onto a moving data storage medium, such as a flexible optical tape, to produce unique domains on the tape that represent binary data bits. Such technology is described, for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,719,615 and 4,912,696.
Also, techniques have been suggested for erasing data that has been stored on an optical data storage medium. For example, it has been proposed to remove data stored on an optical disk by placing the optical disk in an oven or similar heating device. In that way, the entire disk is heated and the data on the disk is erased. The disadvantage of such a system is that it results in the complete removal of all of the data on the disk. Thus, such a system is not well suited for erasing only selected data from an optical recording medium.
In another erasure method that has been suggested for erasing data from an optical recording medium, a laser beam is focused on the optical data storage medium to heat the surface of the medium and thereby cause erasure of the stored data. In other words, according to this method, data erasure is performed in very localized areas on an optical recording medium. Consequently, this method is not well suited for erasing large quantities of data over a relatively large section of an optical recording medium.